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Bronwen Wallace
Bronwen Wallace (May 26, 1945 - August 25, 1989) was a Canadian poet and short story writer. Life Wallace was born in Kingston, Ontario. She attended Queen's University, Kingston, where she earned a B.A. in 1967, and an M.A. in 1969. In 1970, she moved to Windsor, Ontario, where she founded a women's bookstore and became active in working class and women's activist groups. In 1977, she returned to Kingston, where she worked at a women's shelter and taught at St. Lawrence College and Queen's. She wrote a weekly column for the Kingston Whig-Standard. In 1988, she was writer in residence at the University of Western Ontario. Wallace died of cancer in 1989. Writing Her only published collection of short stories, People You'd Trust Your Life To, appeared posthumously in 1990. Her collections testify to her social activism involving women's rights, civil rights, and social policy. A primary focus of her work was violence against women and children. In a series of letters published in 1994 as Two Women Talking: Correspondence 1985-1987, Wallace and poet Erin Mouré discuss feminist theory. Mouré defends the language philosophers (particularly Wittgenstein) who demonstrate that our speech, and the concepts expressible in language, governs our knowledge and actions. However, Wallace disagreed that language-centred writing rescues women from the patriarchy, claiming that it can be easily co-opted by patriarchs. Society's use of politically correct language, she notes in the book, bears this out. Wallace believed that by engaging her readers in the issues of violence, she could provoke change in the reader and hence in society. Recognition The Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award, funded by friends of the poet and the Writers' Trust of Canada, is an annual prize given to a young, promising poet or fiction writer who is under the age of 35 and unpublished. Publications Poetry *''Marrying Into the Family'' (w/ Bread and Chocolate by Mary di Michele). Ottawa: Oberon; 1980."Bronwen Wallace," Canadian Women Poets, BrockU.ca, Web, June 13, 2011. **''Marrying into the Family''. Ottawa: Oberon, 1993. *''Signs of the former Tenant''. Ottawa: Oberon, 1983. *''Common Magic''. Ottawa: Oberon, 1985. *''The Stubborn Particulars of Grace''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1987. *''Keep that Candle Burning Bright, and other poems''. Toronto: Coach House, 1991. Short fiction *''People You'd Trust Your Life To: Stories''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990. Non-fiction *''The Exploitation of Experience: Some thoughts on the study of literature''. Toronto: Hogtown Press, 1971. *"Women's Lives: Alice Munro" in The Human Elements: Critical Essays (edited by David Helwig). Ottawa: Oberon, 1978. 52-67. *''Arguments With the World: Essays'' (edited by Joanne Page). Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1992. *"Lilacs in May: A tribute to Al Purdy" in Essays on Canadian Writing 49 (1993): 86-92. Edited *''Coming Attractions 89'' (edited with Maggie Helwig). Ottawa: Oberon, 1989. Letters *''Two Women Talking: Correspondence, 1985-1987'' (with Erin Mouré). Ottawa: Feminist Caucus of the League of Canadian Poets, 1993. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Bronwen Wallace, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 12, 2015. See also *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links ;Poems *"A Simple Poem for Virginia Woolf" *"Lonely for the Country" *"The Woman in this Poem" *""Common Magic" poem, with analysis by David Gauthier ;Audio / video *Bronwen Wallace at YouTube ;Books *Bronwen Wallace at Amazon.com ;About *Bronwen Wallace at Canadian Women Poets *Bronwen Wallace in the Canadian Encyclopedia *Poetry and Prose in the Work of Bronwen Wallace by Susan Glickman *"Cadences of Voice, Conversations of Change: The poetry of Bronwen Wallace" Category:1945 births Category:1989 deaths Category:Canadian poets Category:Canadian short story writers Category:Canadian women writers Category:20th-century poets Category:Poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Women poets